🙊 Monkey Business At ApeCoin DAO's Elections

Happy new year! Welcome to our daily newsletter, where we provide data-driven and expert opinions on NFTs, gaming & the metaverse. It's all you need to start your day with. Trust us. 😉

Today we cover:

• NFT bear market rally... or green shoots?

• Monkey Business at ApeCoin DAO's recent Special Council elections

• Today's most interesting tweets

Is This A Bear Market Rally... or Green Shoots?

Throughout the 2nd half of 2022, NFT trading volumes have been down only. Many people thought "NFTs are ded". Yet over the past 4 weeks, we're starting to see a sustained uptrend in trading volumes. A sizeable part of this is from Blur, a newer NFT marketplace that's launching its token at the end of January.

In my opinion, if NFT volumes sustain after the Blur airdrop is over, this is green shoots of a recovery in the market. Already collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club are holding up very well, back at floor prices before the FTX collapse.

It's time to start paying some attention to NFTs again.

(h/t @hildobby_ for the chart)

Monkey Business At ApeCoin DAO's Elections

💲 What to know: ApeCoin DAO held an election for its Special Council last month, concluding with 3 new members elected for a 1-year term starting today. BoredApeG, veratheape & Gerry joins existing members Yat Siu & Alexis Ohanian on the Special Council.

There are 5 members in the Special Council in total, with elections occurring every 6 months. The next election (2 seats) will happen in May-June. The purpose of the Special Council is to administer DAO proposals and serve the vision of the APE community.

Special Council members get a stipend of $20,833/month. You can buy lots of bananas with that.

☘️ In the weeds: Calling this first election "dramatic" would be a huge understatement. During the final voting period from Dec 22 - 28, Degentraland was the leading candidate most of the way, at times with ~2M votes ahead of the next candidate.

However, he was relegated to 4th place in just the last 15 minutes of the election, losing out on the Council seat. This happened after a major swing in votes pushed 3 other candidates past him across the winning line. The final standings were:

• BoredApeG: 6.3M APE

• veratheape: 6M APE

• Gerry: 5.5M APE

• Degentraland: 4.7M APE

• herb: 0.25M APE

🤑 Why it matters: It's indisputable that the Apes are the top NFT ecosystem today, with the muscle of Yuga Labs behind it. This means that Special Council members are in a strong position of influence and power in the space. Many are watching ApeCoin DAO as a reference point on how NFT projects can decentralize effectively.

• Less than 1,400 unique wallets voted in this election.

• A few of the top voters had >1M APE each, controlling a sizeable portion of the deciding votes. These APE whales could essentially determine the winners.

• 1 female, 4 males in the Council

• If each wallet had only one vote, BoredApeG wouldn't have won.

(h/t @nix_eth)

The voting process highlights known flaws in the governance process, which is vulnerable to plutocracy — if you (or your friends) have the money you can buy your way to victory. Elections are often messy and unproductive. Now that the dust has settled, we can look forward to what the new members actually bring to the table (i.e DO).

Today's Most Interesting Tweets

✅ CyberKongz roadmap leaks

✅ Cath Simard opens for The Memes Season 2, beginning Jan 1

✅ PROOF's Grails III mint begins on Jan 17

✅ At least you didn't fumble as badly as them... right?

That's it for today folks, see you tomorrow. If you want more, follow us on Twitter (@the_metadata). And if you aren't already a subscriber, join us now to get all the daily alpha you need.

Disclaimer: This newsletter is for educational purposes only. None of this is financial or investment advice. It is not a solicitation to buy or sell any assets. Please do your own research.